Miniature Harness Racing

[Kaitlyn]

Has anyone had experience with this or seen it in person? I have been doing some research online and would love to find out more information. Sounds like it would be a fun sport to try out with the minis, and I'm sure it would be a big crowd-pleaser! Perhaps a way to get the public more interested in the versatile miniature horse?

(I am just picturing a herd of minis racing down my local trotter track

)

 

[Al B]

Try looking up IMTPA. I don't know if its still in existence. It was popular for a few years. It was actually timed and not head to head.

 

[circlesinthesand]

lol, someone had mentioned it when I first joined I think in TX...I looked it up but I can't remember where it was. I doubt my yearling would be any good, his name should be Mosey instead of Mosley, lol. He's a bit of a slowpoke, which is great for me when I'm ground driving but dunno if he'd be the greatest 'race horse' lol. But Daisy, my new girl, would probably be awesome. The time she got out with the big horses, she sure could fly!! A she looks mighty cute doing it too!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Before I got my first miniature, I bought a sulky and harness from a man who used to race horses in Florida. He mostly did regular-sized horses, but also got into the miniatures. When I met him, in OK, he no longer had big hroses, but was breeding miniatures for halter. He was older and getting tired and, to my knowledge, there is no miniature hrose racing anywhere around here; he sold me the sulky and harness. It is the kind with a quick hitch. I love it the setup; so easy to use with training and for quick excercise jaunts.

I think in Florida, many years ago, there were some for-real miniature horses races, but the only recent videos I've seen of it were for exhibition and it looked very disorganized. Some were trotting, some galloping. Every kind of vehicle. It looked more like a Land Run free-for-all than a horse race. Not a good advertisement for miniatures imho.

It would need to be set up in a more formal manner if anyone would take it seriously enough to train for it, and that would only happen if there were money to be made...